Our Story & Our Charge
ABOUT THE REFORMED BUSINESS ALLIANCE
“Dominion of the earth includes not only the most ancient callings of men, such as hunting and fishing, agriculture and stock-raising, but also trade and commerce, finance and credit, the exploitation of mines and mountains, and science and art.”
The Spark
It All Started on
November 22, 2022
Brenton Riling was driving and listening to R.C. Sproul’s Renewing Your Mind podcast on limited atonement when it hit him: all five points of TULIP were true, and he believed every one of them.
That kind of moment doesn’t stay contained. Once a man submits to the doctrines of grace, he starts asking what else he got wrong. For Brenton, the trail led from soteriology to Genesis 1:28, to the Dominion Mandate, and to a hard look at the wreckage around him. A nation hollowed out by secular egalitarianism. A church that had forgotten it was supposed to win. Christians who were competent in business on Monday and functionally pagan in their ambitions by Tuesday.
The conviction that followed was simple: Christ is King over the marketplace, not just the prayer closet. Somebody had to start building like it.
“Jesus did not make salvation possible for everyone; He made it certain for His people.”
— R.C. SproulWho We Are
About Us
Brenton Riling and Caleb Stevens founded Appalachia Digital to do one thing well: build high-impact digital solutions that help Christian-owned businesses dominate their markets instead of merely surviving them. Caleb brought full-stack development expertise. Brenton brought SEO and marketing strategy. Together they found their niche fast, and the results were not subtle. Their work routinely doubled or tripled clients’ online sales.
But the money was never the point. Money is a tool. The point is who holds the tools.
As the business grew, Brenton’s convictions sharpened around Christian Maximalism and the Dominion Mandate. He started noticing the same thing happening in other Reformed men: a refusal to keep renting the world from unbelievers. Business stopped being about provision alone. It became mission, inheritance, and obedience to the command to disciple the nations.
“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”
Out of that soil grew The Reformed Business Alliance. Brenton imagined an economic hub where Reformed and confessional Christians could find each other, trade with each other, hire each other, and build together. Not a networking group. A bulwark. A platform for visibility, yes, but more than that: a platform for dominion, for multi-generational enterprises that honor Christ and refuse to apologize for it.
That vision is now reality. RBA is a growing directory and community of Reformed business owners committed to mutual support, serious commerce, and marketplace excellence, Soli Deo Gloria.
The Charge
The Economic Reformation
The merchants of the earth have bowed to Baal long enough. We intend to help Christians take their commerce back.
The old Christendom lies in ruins, and we do not pretend otherwise. But we will not remain mourners at its grave. We are builders on its foundation. Every generation of the church that took the Dominion Mandate seriously built something that outlasted it, and most of that building was done with plows, ledgers, ships, and shops long before it was done with ballots. Economies are downstream of worship. When the church recovers her nerve, the marketplace follows.
That is the wager behind RBA. Christians already own businesses, employ workers, and move serious capital. What’s missing is the connective tissue: a place where the household of faith actually trades within the household of faith. Keep Christian dollars circulating among Christian builders. Apprentice young men under godly masters. Fund the ventures the world would never fund. Build enterprises sturdy enough to hand to your grandchildren along with the catechism.
Call it an economic reformation. We do. And reformation is exactly what we expect it to become.
A Word on Who’s Welcome
RBA is built on Reformed and confessional footing, and we’re not shy about it. But if you are a confessional Lutheran or Anglican who loves the old paths, affirms the creeds, and wants to build for Christendom rather than against it, pull up a chair. The table is bigger than one tradition, and the enemies of Christ are not confused about who His people are. Neither are we. Welcome aboard.
Milestones
The Road So Far
July 2024
Appalachia Digital Is Formed
Brenton and his business partner Caleb formed Appalachia Digital to build websites and do search engine optimization for Christian-owned businesses.
December 2024
RBA Is Conceptualized
The domain is purchased, the landing page goes up, and the site build begins.
May 2025
RBA Is Launched
The MVP of the platform launches with a roadmap for what’s next: Job Boards, a private social network, and a digital publication.
January 2026
LatestRBA 2.0 Is Launched
The platform relaunches as a full SaaS product with expanded functionality and a massively improved user experience, cementing RBA as the premier network for Reformed business owners.
The Founders
Meet the Laborers
Brenton Riling
Westminster Confession of FaithBrenton Riling is the founder of The Reformed Business Alliance and co-founder of Appalachia Digital, a web development and SEO firm serving Christian-owned businesses. He helps Reformed entrepreneurs build with clarity, conviction, and purpose.
His convictions sit on historic Reformed orthodoxy, with a strong view of biblical patriarchy and the covenantal household. Shaped by John Calvin, Doug Wilson, and Zachary Garris, Brenton believes godly households led by faithful men are where dominion and discipleship actually start. Get the household right and the rest follows.
He has been married 12 years and has two young children. He lives near Lynchburg, Virginia, which he will tell you is one of the most beautiful places on earth. He reads, shoots, hunts, climbs mountains, explores, and lifts weights. Through his life and work he aims to help believers live Coram Deo, before the face of God.
Kiefer Likens
Westminster Confession of FaithKiefer Likens is the founder of Set to Stun, a web design and marketing agency helping Christian-owned businesses build beautiful, functional, theologically grounded brands. He also runs Confess & Carry, where he handcrafts laser-engraved goods and leatherwork that celebrate craftsmanship and faith.
Kiefer pastors Redemption Ranch, a Reformed church plant in North Zulch, Texas, open to both Reformed Baptists and Reformed Presbyterians. The church gathers simply, outdoors, without pretense. No lights, no smoke machines. Just the Word, the sacraments, and the singing of God’s people.
He has been married sixteen years and has three children. His work comes down to clarity, craftsmanship, and conviction: creativity as dominion stewardship, building tools, stories, and communities that glorify Christ and strengthen the Reformed church.
Join the Building
Christendom is not a nostalgia project. It is a construction project, and the workforce is the church.
If you own a business, list it. If you need work done, hire from within the kingdom. If you’re young and hungry, find a master craftsman here and apprentice yourself to him. The nations belong to Christ, and the marketplaces of those nations are not an exception.
The Reformed Business Alliance exists so that Christians stop building Pharaoh’s pyramids and start building their own cities.
Soli Deo Gloria.